Method of handling sugar-cane juices.



'H S TRUSCOTT.

' AR. 22, 1915. I 11775882., Patented Apr. 4,1916.

HAROLD SAGE TRUSCOTT, 0F MAKAWELI, TERRITORY OF HAWAII.

METHOD OF HANDLING SUGAR-CANE JUICES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

Application filed March 22, 1915. Serial No. 16,163.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. HAROLD SAGE TRUS- COTT, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain, residing at Makaweli, in the county of Kauai, Territoryof Hawaii. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methodsof Handling Sugar-Cane Juices; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention. such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

This invention relates to an improved process or method of handlingthejuices expressed by sugar-cane millin'g plants.

Most of the modern sugar-cane milling plants. which give a highextraction of the sucrose in the cane, have four three-roller mills intandem and a two-roller crusher for preparing the cane for the firstmill, maceration being applied to the crushed cane or bagasse betweenthe several mills. The juices expressed by the crusher and first millusually constitute from 70% to 80% of the total juices expressed by themilling plant, and the purity of these first expressed juices is usuallyfrom 88 to 91. The purity of the juices expressed by the other mills inthe train is much lower, so that when mixed with the juices expressed bythe crusher and the first mill, the resulting'total mixed juice islowered in purity to usually from 85 to 88.

The present invention contemplates a method of handling these juices,eliminating impurities from the diluted juices expressed by the millsprevious to mixing them with the juices from the crusher and the firstmill. thereby raising the purity of the total mixed juice. By removingimpurities from the diluted juices and then mixing the resultingpurified juice with the juices first expressed. the clarification andboiling houses are freed from contamination of the impurities thusremoved. and a higher recovery of sugar is obtained.

The invention consists in the novel method and the arrangement ofapparatus for the handling of the various juices expressed by asugar-cane milling plant. as will hereinafter more fully appear.Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing. forming a part ofthis specification. which illustrates diagrammatically my improvedprocess.

A represents the crusher rolls which prepare the cane fed to the firstthree-roller mill B.

C, D and E represents the second. third and fourth three-roller millsrespectively, whlch with the crusher and the first mill are arranged intandem in the usual manner.

F represents the filter or juice strainer employed to screen the juicesand separate the particles in suspension in the juices, the screeningsbeing returned to the mill in the usual manner.

The juices expressed by the first mill and the crusher are strained inthe forward section F of the juice strainer F and passed tothe tanks Gand are limed. The juice from the fourth mill E is strained in the rearsection F of the juice strainer F and passes into a receiving well H,from which the pump J lifts the juice to be applied for maceration ofthe bagasse from the second mill C. The juice expressed by the thirdmill D is strained in the section F of the juice strainer F, and passesinto the-receiving well K. from which the pump L lifts the juice to beapplied for macerating the bagasse from the first mill B. The juice fromthe second mill C is strained in the section F of the juice strainer Fand is passed preferably into a continuous liming tank M, which issupplied with milk of lime from the tank N. Any excess of juice from thefourth mill E over that pumped by the pump J accumulates in the well Hand can overflow into the well K. Juices accumulating in the well K canoverflow directly into the continuous liming tank M. The diluted juicesfrom the mills C. D and E are thus limed in the tank M, and are thenpumped by the pump P through the juice heater Q and into the continuoussettling tank R. The clarified juice from the continuous settling tank Ris mixed with the juices from the crusher A and the first mill B,preferably after the latter juices have been limed in the tanks G. Thismay be done by means of the pump T which serves to pump the juices fromthe tanks G and R and to force the mixture of juices through the heatersU, and then to the usual clarifiers, etc., not shown. The settlingsfromthe continuous settling tank R- are passed into the scum tank S, andthen pumped through the mud or filter presses in the usual manner.

It will now be noted that the diluted juices, from the mills C, D and E,are segregated from the juices first expressed by the crusher A andfthefirst mill B, and that they are strained, limed, heated and settled,thus eliminating impurities therefrom before these juices are added toand mixed with the strained and limed juices first expressed. The purityof the total mixed juice is raised thereby. The method permits of abetter control of the dilution and the maceration. the losses byinversion are reduced, the fouling of the e\-'aporat0rs pans. etc., isdiminished, and a higher efficiency is obtained.

I claim:

1. The method of handling sugar-cane juices comprising, the eliminationof impurities from the diluted juices of low purity previous to themixing of these juices with the first expressed juices of high purity,for the purpose described.

2. The method of handling sugar-cane juices comprising, the segregationof the diluted low purity juices from the first expressed juices of highpurity, the treatment of these diluted juices to eliminate impuritiestherefrom, and the mixing of the purified diluted juice with the firstexpressed juice, substantially as and for the purpose described.

juices comprising. straining the juices expressed by each millseparately, the juice from the second mill and the juices in excess ofthat used for maceration from the third and fourth mills being limed andheated and the impurities allowed to settle, then mixing the juice thuspurified with that from the first mill, preferably after the latter hasbeen limed', and then clarifying the total mixed juice in the usualmanner, for the purpose andsubstantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

HAROLD SAGE TRUSCOTT. \Vitnesses Gascon T. GREIG, G. NV. CUNNINGHAM.

3. The method of handling sugar-cane

